Displaying items by tag: climate change

(Washington, D.C., May 11, 2020) When the New York State Legislature finalized the state budget, it included the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act. The Act seeks to streamline the approval process for wind and solar energy projects as part of the State’s approach to achieving its renewable energy goals. While it does have some positive elements for wildlife, such as seeking to site projects on degraded lands and creating a bird impact mitigation fund, the Act also fast-tracks facets of renewable energy planning and development, and changes in this process raise red flags with some conservation groups.

“We have concerns about how this will be implemented,” says Joel Merriman, ABC’s Bird-Smart Wind Energy Campaign Director. “A combination of aggressive timelines and the potential for automatic approvals at key steps in the process leaves the door open for wind energy facility plans to inadequately address risks to birds.”

Wind energy development is an important element of fighting climate change, but it does not come without environmental costs. ABC estimates that more than 500,000 birds are killed annually from collisions with wind turbines in the U.S. Given projected industry build-out, that figure is expected to increase to more than 1.4 million annually by 2030. Birds are also killed by powerlines installed to connect wind facilities to the energy grid, and yet others are displaced by facility development. Some species, such as Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles, are more vulnerable to turbine collisions, and due to slow reproductive rates, these birds have less capacity to recover from losses.

The Act creates a new Office of Renewable Energy Siting, which will work with other agencies to review and set conditions for proposed renewable energy projects. The input of wildlife management agencies will be crucial to ensure that birds receive adequate protection, but under the new law, these agencies are given short time windows to participate. Insufficient staffing, busy seasons, and many other factors could prevent meaningful review and input, potentially leaving birds largely out of the discussion.

Further, under the new law, local community input is substantially reduced and comes later in the planning process. This may prevent those with first-hand knowledge of local bird populations from influencing critical project elements that are determined early in the process, including facility and turbine siting.

“A lot hinges on development of strong standards and conditions for project siting and planning,” says Merriman. “These must ensure that local bird populations are thoroughly assessed, and that turbines are not sited in high-risk areas.”

For example, in an application filed for the Heritage Wind project in western New York in mid-March, the developer proposes placing wind turbines in close proximity to a large wetland complex that includes a National Wildlife Refuge and two state Wildlife Management Areas. Important to both breeding and migratory birds, this block of habitat supports many species of conservation concern and is also considered an Important Bird Area. During the planning process, two local bird conservation organizations raised concerns about the planned facility’s proximity to these sensitive areas, but these points have not been addressed by the developer.

“The bird-related conflict that poorly sited wind facilities create is largely avoidable if good siting practices are required,” says Merriman. “The State can greatly reduce this kind of conflict by establishing no-go zones and other commonsense standards to keep turbines out of high-risk areas.”

Merriman offers some broader advice on meeting renewable energy goals: “Renewable energy development is just one piece of the climate change solution puzzle,” he says. “We encourage the State to be equally aggressive in implementing energy efficiency measures and installing distributed solar energy. Put solar panels on commercial, municipal, and residential buildings, over parking lots…anywhere they can be supported. Birds and people win when energy production is sited where it’s used, away from valuable bird habitat.”

Merriman continues, “In other arenas, New York has done great things for birds. The State can maintain this commitment by making some adjustments to the Act, such as eliminating automatic approvals and setting a positive precedent in the development of standards and conditions for wind energy projects. A recent study by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, ABC, and others shows that the United States and Canada lost nearly 3 billion birds — almost 30 percent of the total population — since 1970. It’s critical that we balance the need for renewable energy development with protecting our vulnerable bird populations.”

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American Bird Conservancyis a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, we take on the greatest problems facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation. Find us on abcbirds.org, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@ABCbirds).

An insightful exploration of the iconic Galápagos tortoises, and how their fate is inextricably linked to our own in a rapidly changing world

The Galápagos archipelago is often viewed as a last foothold of pristine nature. For sixty years, conservationists have worked to restore this evolutionary Eden after centuries of exploitation at the hands of pirates, whalers, and island settlers. Elizabeth Hennessy’s book tells the story of the islands’ namesakes—the giant tortoises—as coveted food sources, objects of natural history, and famous icons of conservation and tourism. By doing so, it brings into stark relief the paradoxical, and impossible, goal of conserving species by trying to restore a past state of prehistoric evolution. The tortoises, Hennessy demonstrates, are not prehistoric, but rather microcosms whose stories show how deeply human and nonhuman life are entangled. Acknowledging the interlocked relationship between evolution and global history, Hennessy puts forward a vision for conservation based on reckoning with the past, rather than trying to erase it.

About the Author

ELIZABETH HENNESSY is assistant professor of history and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin‑Madison, where she is on the steering committee of the Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE) and—building on her background in journalism and editing—serves as faculty advisor for CHE’s graduate‑student‑run digital magazine, Edge Effects. She received her Ph.D. in geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In Ecuador, she works with the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and its Galápagos Institute for the Arts and Sciences. More . . .

Advance Praise for On the Backs of Tortoises

“Wonderfully interesting, informative, and engaging, as well as scholarly.”—Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place

“Timely, fresh, and compelling . . . a must read for anyone interested in the environmental history of the Galapagos and tortoise conservation.”—Jamie Lorimer, University of Oxford, author of Wildlife in the Anthropocene: Conservation after Nature

“Hennessy’s book isn’t just about the controversial efforts to preserve the world’s most famous tortoises—it also provides an expansive tour de force of Darwinian ideas, the Galapagos, human entanglements in evolution, and the risks of icon making.”—Daniel Lewis, author of Belonging on an Island: Birds, Extinction, and Evolution in Hawai‘i

“Hennessy’s enthralling history of the iconic Galápagos Islands focuses on the tortoises after which they are named to deftly unpack the contradictions of global conservation in the name of science.”—Claudia Leal, author of Landscapes of Freedom: Building a Postemancipation Society in the Rainforests of Western Colombia

“Hennessey finds that even though this archipelago is 97% a national park, humans can no longer consider themselves distinct from nature, but rather are an inseparable part of it with consequences for the identity of each.”—Deborah Cramer, author of The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab, and an Epic Journey

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Title: On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galápagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden

Stephen Nash is the author of GRAND CANYON FOR SALE: Public Lands versus Private Interest in the Era of Climate Change (University of California Press; Sept 2017) Nash has written for The New York Times about national parks and public lands here, here,here,here and here. He is the author of Grand Canyon for Sale: Public Lands Versus Private Interests in the Era of Climate Change, published by the University of California Press, as well as three other books on science and policy.

He has reported on science and the environment for The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, BioScience, The Scientist, National Parks and The Progressive.

Prior books have won the American Institute of Physics first prize for science writing, and the Southern Environmental Law Center's first prize for books about southern environmental issues.

He is a visiting senior research scholar at the University of Richmond, where he has taught in the journalism and environmental studies programs since 1980.

Grand Canyon National Park's Centennial is February 2019!

GRAND CANYON FOR SALE

Public Lands versus Private Interests in the Era of Climate Change

by STEPHEN NASH

“The Trump administration is proclaiming that not only the Grand Canyon but our entire public land heritage may soon be up for sale. I hope this excellent book will awaken all Americans to an unprecedented threat to our parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, and ocean sanctuaries.”

Bruce Babbitt, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior, former governor of Arizona

"...humorous, despite the book’s serious subject matter...describes how eﬀorts to protect U.S. parks have been thwarted by organizations with deep pockets and by the politicians that are responsive to their pleas."Review, the journal Science

"In the new book Grand Canyon for Sale, the veteran science journalist Stephen Nash explores decades of twisted incentives, rotten politics, and feckless regulators endangering some 28 percent of the national soil. Topped off with climate change and President Trump, “we’re on the precipice, both politically and biologically,” he writes...elegant, readable...

Review, Sierra magazine

February 26, 2019 marks the 100th Anniversary of the establishment of Grand Canyon National Park by President Woodrow Wilson and an eager-and-willing U.S. Congress.

In anticipation of this momentous occasion, and to promote public discussion of its urgent significance, author Stephen Nash and the University of California Press released the recent book, Grand Canyon For Sale: Public Lands versus Private Interests in the Era of Climate Change (University of California Press: Sept 2017), an investigation by Nash of the precarious future of America’s public lands. He highlights America’s national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, monuments, and wildernesses and the tens of billions of dollars in potential economic losses if we fail to keep our national promise -- made when the whole park system was created -- to “conserve their scenery and natural and historic objects and wildlife.” The Grand Canyon alone saw six million visitors last year. The whole national park system was visited an astonishing 300 million times.

Taking the Grand Canyon as his key example, and using on-the-ground reporting as well as scientific research, Nash shows how industrial exploitation and accelerating climate change will dislocate wildlife populations and vegetation across hundreds of thousands of square miles of publicly owned national landscape, threatening their survival

Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Director of Public Relations, 202-888-7472

(Washington, D.C., Oct. 6, 2017) The U.S. Senate will have an opportunity to act to make all new federal buildings safer for birds. This week, Sen. Cory A. Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act (S. 1920) — the first time such a bill has been proposed in the Senate. A version of the legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA).

American Bird Conservancy (ABC) thanks Sen. Booker and Reps. Quigley and Griffith for encouraging the federal government to lead by example in addressing one of the biggest human-caused threats to birds. As many as a billion birds a year are killed in the United States when they collide with glass on all kind of structures, from skyscrapers and office buildings to homes and bus shelters.

Many existing federal buildings already feature bird-friendly design. Both the House and Senate versions of the bill call for the General Services Administration to require new federal buildings to incorporate bird-safe building materials and design features.

“While this legislation is limited to federal buildings, it’s a very good start that could lead to more widespread applications of bird-friendly designs elsewhere,” said Christine Sheppard, Director of ABC’s Glass Collisions Program.

“Now is the time to proactively avoid continued impacts to bird populations from building strikes, which only compounds losses from other threats such as habitat loss and climate change,” said Eric Stiles, President and Chief Executive Officer of New Jersey Audubon. “We applaud Cory Booker for introducing the Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act.”

Many species of birds fall victim to collisions. The species most commonly reported as building kills in the United States include White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Ovenbird, and Song Sparrow. Several other species of national conservation concern suffer disproportionate casualties, including Painted Bunting, Canada Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Canada Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, and Wood Thrush. Learn more about bird collisions and bird-friendly building design here.

(Photo: Wood Thrush by Ryan Sanderson)

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American Bird Conservancy is dedicated to conserving birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, we take on the greatest problems facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation.